Today's Rand Paul news: Fox News announced Tuesday that Sen. Rand Paul -- relegated to the undercard at the Jan. 14 South Carolina debate, which he skipped -- will rejoin the main stage Thursday in the GOP debate in Des Moines. Also on the main stage: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich. (Shortly after the lineup was announced, Trump said he probably won't participate, protesting what he called "wise guy" statements from Fox News about his criticism of moderator Megyn Kelly.) "To qualify, a candidate needs to be either among the top six in an average of the five most recent national polls, or among the top five in an average of the five most recent Iowa or New Hampshire polls," Fox said in a statement: USA Today

The GOP Senator from Kentucky hosted a telephone press conference Tuesday afternoon in which he talked about the debate and other things. Paul says he always knew he was a top-tier candidate, and that winning his way back shows the wisdom of his refusal to let himself be framed as an also-ran in the undercard debate last time. In the end, the bulk of his hopes for Iowa do rely on the young: "We are on the upswing with most polls in Iowa and that's a good place to be; we're rising at just the right time and we see if we motivate the youth vote, not counted in polling, we could be in for a surprise in Iowa." Paul believes he has a great chance to distinguish himself on the debate stage Thursday as the only true conservative. "The most important thing is I'm the only fiscal conservative on stage" because you "can't be conservative if you are liberal with military spending" and that he's the only one for holding the line on both military and domestic spending: Reason

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray announced Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Paul. Gray is a Democrat who is the Former CEO of a construction company. Gray made history back in 2010 when he was elected to become Kentucky's first openly gay mayor. He went to the capitol Tuesday to officially file his papers and enter the race. "The American dream is slipping away," Mayor Gray said. "Washington is part of the problem. Washington is broken. They spend a lot more time in Washington fighting than they do fixing things:" WSAZ

His candidacy comes as Republicans have solidified their political power in Kentucky, holding all but one of the state's congressional seats and four of the six statewide constitutional offices, including governor. "There is no question that it's a tough race," Gray told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "But I think that the people in Kentucky are looking for an alternative." But Gray gives Democrats a savvy political veteran who has shown a willingness to use his own money to fuel his campaigns. He used more than $800,000 of his own money in 2010 to topple an incumbent mayor, and gave himself another $250,000 in his 2014 re-election campaign. Democrats see Paul as vulnerable, since he is the only major party presidential candidate who is running for two offices at the same time. He ran into a legal problem in Kentucky, where a state law forbids candidates from appearing on the ballot twice in the same election. Kentucky Republicans decided to hold a presidential caucus on March 5 to get around that, with Paul donating $250,000 to cover the causes' expenses: WTOP